Tobacco lath



Sept. 16., 1952 A ,Y W N ALEsHlN '2,610,883

TOBACCO LATH Filed Nov. 5, 1949 IN V EN TOR. WML/HM N. HL saw/v HTTOIP/VE Y.

Patented Sept. 165195Z ,UNITED .STATES .i egrsNr `oF-Ficr: A

K n A .A l .`261011883i ,iroeAcoo Livre yWilliam N.`Algesl1i n, South'Windsor, Comi. l y* y. Appiicatitn Novi-Lieber s. 1949, serial No. 125,301

Z Claims.

This invention relates to a tobacco lath and more particularly to such a lath which is primarily intended to support a number of individual leaves of tobacco or the like.

An object of this invention is to provide a tobacco lath having improved means whereby the individual tobacco leaves may be quickly secured to the lath and in such a manner that the said leaves will not easily become detached from the lath.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tobacco lath having an improved spear for individual tobacco leaves and means associated therewith for retaining the leaf on the spear against accidental removal therefrom.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will be more clearly understood from the following description and from the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a tobacco lath embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of said lath.

Fig. 3 is a sectional end view on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a similar View on line 4--4 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing one of the fastening members and a leaf secured thereby to the lath.

Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the position of the said fastening member as the leaf is being inserted thereinto.

Fig. 7 is a View similar to Fig. 4 but showing a leaf secured to the lath. p

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a fastening member of modified form.

Fig. 9 is a front view thereof.

As illustrated in the drawings, my improved lath consists of an elongated bar 5, which is preferably made of wood or other suitable material. The present invention provides a series of fastening members which are preferably formed from a single sheet metal strip 6 which is secured to said lath for individually supporting the tobacco leaves.

Each of said fastening members preferably consists of a spear 1 and a retaining spring 8, which are formed on the strip E so that the spear 1 will be parallel to the strip and spaced therefrom and the retaining spring 3 will extend beyond the said spear and provide a retaining portion 9 which will extend towards the spear and thereby embrace a leaf stem, indicated at it, which is hung on said spear and retained thereon by the spring il.

In the preferred form of the invention illustrated, the spear 1 is sheared from the strip 6 and formed outwardly so that it will be provided with an outwardly projecting supportingv portion Il and a portion l2 parallel to the strip 6 and terminating in a point i3 which is adapted to 2 pierce the stem of a leaf when the said stem is forced against the end of the spear. The retaining spring member 8 is also sheared from the strip 6 and formed so that it will project from said strip farther than the spear and then extend in the direction of the spear point i3 so that it will provide a hook-shaped curved portion forming a pocket which will receive the stem l i3 when it is mounted upon the spear l, and retain it thereon by means of the tension in the spring S.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the spear 'I may be located at one side of and slightly spaced from the retaining spring 8 and, for this construction, a piercing operation is performed before the spring and the spear are sheared from the spring 6. If desired, however, the piercing operation may be eliminated and the entire structure may be produced by a shearing and forming operation which will shear both the spear and the retaining spring from the strip 6 and form them with a single operation of a suitable die.

It will be noted that the strip 6 may beattached to the lath 5 by suitable means, such as nails I4 or the like.

in the use of my improved lath, a leaf stem is merely placed in the throat I5 of the hook formed by the spring 8 and then forced into said hook; whereby the stem will be pierced by the spear l and supported within the said hook as clearly indicated in the drawings. As the said leaf stem is moved inwardly the retaining portion 9 of the spring will be forced outwardly, against the spring tension, so that the stem will be permitted to move onto the spear. When the leaf reaches its position as illustrated in Fig. 5, the retaining portion 9 of the hook will be urged by said tension towards the strip S and thereby securely retain the leaf stem on the spear.

In the modifiedv form illustrated in Figs. 3 and 9, the retaining spring 9 may be eliminated and the spear 'l-a. may be inclined in the direction of the strip B-a so that it will form a constricted throat IE-a and thereby retain the leaf stem against accidental displacement on said spear.

My invention provides a means for quickly and securely fastening tobacco leaves to a lath and, since the spears are all pointing in one direction, it permits for quickly removing the leaves from the lath by simply stripping them from the spears with a single stroke of the hand in the direction in which the spears point l claim:

1. A tobacco leaf hanger comprising 'an elongated bar, a, sheet metal strip secured to said bar, and a plurality of elongated leaf-supporting spears extending from and spaced along said strip and from the opposite side edges thereof; each of said spears being lanced from the strip and comprising a neck portion extending outwardly therefrom, and an elongated leg portion 3 4 extending laterally from the outer end of the neck REFERENCES CITED portion and substantially in the same direction as The following references are of record in the the strip and having a. free end portion spaced me of this patent: from the said strip.

z. A wbaccoieaf henger as ser forth in claim 14l 5 UMTED STATES 'PATENTS wherein the leg portion has its end portion con- 'Number Name Date verging towards the sheet metal strip to provide 144,503 Burr et a1 Nov. 11, 1873 a, restricted throat between the Strip and Said 417,869 Jones Dec. 24, 1889 end portion. 785,777 Sylvester et al Mar. 28, 1905 10 1,263,144 Styers Apr. 16, 1918 WILLIAM N- 1,4??605 Steigerwald Dec. 18, 1923 2,280,391 Hays Apr. 21, 1942 

